Western Australia may have a uranium mining ban in place – but one explorer is making moves in the hope the policy tide may soon turn.
Uranium mining was prohibited by the WA Government in 2017. Four remote projects were given exemptions at the time as they had been approved before the ban came into play.
Three of those projects are on hold indefinitely and the fourth, Deep Yellow’s Mulga Rock, is still in the testwork phase.
But now, Aurora Energy Metals is making a play for a different future.
Aurora is an Australian company focused on the exploration and development of its flagship, 100 per cent owned Aurora uranium project in Oregon, US.
The explorer has entered into an option agreement to take over Metalbelt, the holder of a number of uranium exploration licenses and applications in WA.
While the deal is only expected to be worth $50,000, its significance is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The WA Government has been staunch in its commitment to a uranium ban, but Aurora chair Peter Lester sees the potential for change.
“As a company we are cognisant of the current uranium mining ban in Western Australia, however, we recognise the growing momentum for uranium worldwide, along with heightened discussions around the mining of uranium, not just in WA but nationally,” Lester said.
“This momentum, we believe, could ultimately lead to a shift in sentiment or policy in Western Australia.”
Aurora will have the next six months to mull over its decision to make a concrete move on the option.
During this time, the explorer plans to carry out assessments on the project, including technical and commercial evaluations.
Initial work will focus on landholder engagement and surface inspections with portable spectrometers.
Subject to initial sampling and securing access to any areas of interest, Aurora will follow up with drilling and geophysical methods to define the extent and geometry of any mineralisation and host channels at the site.
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